1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to amusement devices and more particularly, to an educational board game adapted to teach the playing public about the dangers of using illegal chemical substances (e.g. narcotics or "drugs").
2. Description of the Prior Art
Educational board games have become enormously popular because they combine the passing of an enjoyable leisure activity with the acquisition of knowledge. The theme or subject of an educational board game may relate to a wide range of different categories such as the well known question and answer board game sold under the registered trademark TRIVIAL PURSUIT, or to a single category such as "real estate" as treated, for example, in the well known board game sold under the registered trademark MONOPOLY.
A need definitely exists in today's society to educate the populace against the hazards associated with the use and/or addiction of illegal drugs, narcotics or other chemical substances. Hence, an amusement device in the form of an educational board game whose object is to inform the players about the dangers of drug abuse clearly would be beneficial. A prior art search has uncovered U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,675 which describes a board game having question cards related to the use of addictive substances such as alcohol, for example, and the hazards associated therewith, e.g. driving while intoxicated offenses. Under the rules of this patented game, player tokens are moved along a path on the board whose spaces are correlated to the cards in a conventional 52 card playing deck. The spaces in turn, are associated with question and answer cards. If the player answers the question correctly, a token may be placed on an ancillary card in a space correlated to the suit of the playing card space on the board. The object is to complete a row of tokens on the ancillary card ahead of all other players. While this game does address the subject of chemical substance abuse, its value as an educational tool is somewhat limited. Moreover, it is relatively complicated and features an unusually large number of parts.
Other game board devices are known which address various other aspects of human experience. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,255 relates to a question and answer board game devoted to the subject of criminal justice. Movement of game tokens along the tracks on the game board is determined by correctly answering questions involving famous crimes, gangsters, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,808 relates to a question and answer board wherein the questions are based upon trivia associated with the T.V. show or movie known as STAR TREK. Progress in answering the questions is noted by movement across a board to reach certain imagined destinations and the construction of a model of the starship ENTERPRISE from various pieces awarded as each question correctly is answered.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,954 relates to a question and answer game wherein the answers to posed questions about "geography" have associated therewith "reference codes." The correct answers are determined by correlating the codes on a surface representation (e.g. a map) having subdivisions matching the codes by viewing through optical means. Categories and/or difficulty of question are selected by chance using a six-sided die, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,780 relates to a question and answer board game wherein the questions are devoted to basketball trivia. Movement of player tokens along the game board is determined by a throw of dice and the squares on the board determine point value and difficulty of posed questions contained on cards. Correctly answering a question yields one point as in a "foul shot" or 2 or 3 points as when a goal is scored from the field.